More Signs Of Apocalypse? Syria Deploys Thousands of Missiles To Israel's Border
Pastor Dale Morgan
More Signs Of Apocalypse? Syria Deploys Thousands of Missiles To
Israel's Border*
Mar 12th, 2007 11:47 AM
Syria deploys rockets along Israel border
* Israeli sources fear military build-up represents war preparation
* EU foreign policy chief to include Syria in ME visit
JERUSALEM/BRUSSELS: Israel said on Friday that Syria had positioned
along its border with the Jewish state thousands of medium- and
long-range rockets capable of striking major town across the north of
the country, the same day the European Union (EU) confirmed that its
foreign policy chief was preparing to visit Damascus.
Talking to AFP on condition of anonymity, Israeli military and
government sources said that the Jewish state viewed the Syrian
deployment, coupled with other recent reports of troop mobilisation, as
an indication that Damascus might be preparing for future “low intensity
warfare” against Israel.
“We have noticed that in recent months Syria has deployed hundreds,
possibly thousands, of medium- and long-range rockets along the border
(with Israel),” one military source said.
“Many of the rockets are hidden in underground chambers and in
camouflaged silos, which make them very difficult to locate,” the source
added.
The sources, three of whom were from the military and two from the
government, said that Syria had built a system of fortified underground
tunnels along its border with Israel, which they said posed “a real
strategic threat” to the Jewish state.
One government source described the move as evidence of Syria “investing
in fields where it can have an edge”, given that Israel’s advanced air
force and “smart weapons” afforded the Jewish state “absolute
superiority in several fields in warfare”.
The source went on to explain that Syria “has invested in recent years
in anti-aircraft weapons, rockets, missiles and bunkers”, adding that
last year’s Israeli war on Lebanon, in which the Jewish state found
itself unable to overpower Hezbollah, “proved to the Syrians that they
were right to do so”. Government sources said that this explained why
Syria was concluding a deal with Russia to procure thousands of advanced
anti-tank missiles, of the sort that Hezbollah used against the Israeli
army during last summer’s conflict.
These concerns over a possible imminent Syrian attack on Israel have
also been echoed by Israeli experts. Speaking to AFP, Begin-Saadat
Centre for Strategic Studies Director Ephraim Inbar said: “Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad realised after the Lebanon war (last year)
that Israel was not as strong as it seems and that it could be
threatened by simple means rather than an advanced army.”
Inbar also appeared to agree with military sources when he said that
“Assad could be preparing for low intensity war, a type of war of
attrition with Israel, where Syria fires several rockets against Israel
without provoking full-fledged war”.
However, Israel’s military intelligence chief, Major General Amod
Yadlin, told the government’s annual intelligence assessment that while
Syria was beefing up its military, war between the two neighbouring
countries was unlikely in 2007.
The concern, he said, was not that Syria would initiate a full-scale war
against Israel, but that Damascus would react militarily against Israeli
military moves.
Reports of the Syrian build-up comes two weeks after the Jewish state
held war games in the occupied Golan Heights, captured from Syria in
1967, in a bid to learn the lessons of last summer’s conflict with Lebanon.
Meanwhile on Friday, Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said that EU
foreign policy chief Javier Solana was scheduled to visit Syria next
week for talks on Lebanon and Middle Eastern peace, in move that would
end the bloc’s freeze on high-level contacts with Damascus.
French President Jacques Chirac had been blocking EU contacts with Syria
over the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik
al-Hariri.
Prior to the Irish foreign minister’s disclosure, Solana had only
confirmed that he was scheduled on Monday to visit Saudi Arabia and
Lebanon. agencies
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